“A dangerous movement, undetected by many, is now challenging and eroding our great tradition of religious freedom. [This movement] must be confronted and stopped.” – Attorney General Jeff Sessions on the establishment of the “Religious Liberty Task Force” within the Department of Justice.
I serve as a pastor in the United Church of Christ, a denomination that in part traces its roots to the Mayflower Pilgrims who are celebrated everything Thanksgiving. This group of 101 religious “Separatists” (so named because they separated from the Church of England) had already escaped religious persecution in England by crossing the channel and settling in Holland, where religious toleration was the law. But since all sorts of other licentious behaviors were also tolerated by the Dutch, this devout group of believers decided to risk a voyage across the Atlantic to the New World, where they hoped to form a new community free to practice the Christian faith as they saw fit in what they believed would be a more pristine environment. They named their new settlement “Plymouth.”
The pilgrims’ understanding of “religious liberty” was simple. All people should be free to worship God as they chose. No one should be coerced to accept a particular faith tradition, but all should be free to express their beliefs without fear of reprisal. It didn’t take long for this principle to be tested. The pilgrims soon realized the New World was actually very old and populated by people with their own traditions and beliefs. For roughly half a century, the pilgrims and natives engaged in sometimes tense but always hopeful dialogue and a rich exchange of practices and ideas.
This peaceful co-existence would soon be overwhelmed, however, by another colonial enterprise just to the north. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was formed out of a mixture of commercial and religious interests. Puritans (not Separatists) came to the New World with the stated intention of creating a “New England,” purifying English religion with a more biblically-based church. These Puritans also sought religious freedom, but only for themselves. When confronted with the presence of natives, they were quite clear about their intention either to convert them to Christianity or drive them away. The Massachusetts Bay Congregational Churches were determined to create a new Christian society, a theocracy supported by local taxes. Citizenship and church membership were one and the same.